A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective
The very largest glacier outburst floods have been termed ‘megafloods’ given their volume and peak discharge. That definition might be revised because those floods have become understood due to their distinctive and pervasive landscape impacts. At least three floods in Iceland can be categorized as...
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ftleedsuniv:oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:147924 2023-05-15T16:20:49+02:00 A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective Carrivick, JL Tweed, FS 2019-09 text https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147924/ https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147924/1/Iceland%20and%20Greenland_ESR%20submitted.pdf en eng Elsevier https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147924/1/Iceland%20and%20Greenland_ESR%20submitted.pdf Carrivick, JL orcid.org/0000-0002-9286-5348 and Tweed, FS (2019) A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective. Earth-Science Reviews, 196. 102876. ISSN 0012-8252 cc_by_nc_nd_4 CC-BY-NC-ND Article NonPeerReviewed 2019 ftleedsuniv 2023-01-30T22:20:12Z The very largest glacier outburst floods have been termed ‘megafloods’ given their volume and peak discharge. That definition might be revised because those floods have become understood due to their distinctive and pervasive landscape impacts. At least three floods in Iceland can be categorized as megafloods since they produced impressive bedrock canyons and giant fluvially-transported boulders. Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in Greenland might also have megaflood-type attributes given the enormous lake volumes drained. We therefore here present the first review of glacier outburst floods in Greenland: sites Isvand, Russell Glacier, Kuannersuit Glacier, Lake Tininnilik, two unnamed lakes near Amitsulooq Ice Cap, and Iluliallup Tasersua, Base Camp Lake, Lake Hullett, Qorlortorssup Tasia, Imaersartoq, Tordensø, North Midternæs and an outlet glacier of the A. P. Olsen Ice Cap. Overall, megaflood-type landscape impacts in Iceland tend to be best-preserved and most easily identified inland although there has also been extensive offshore sedimentation. There are very few reported impacts of glacier outburst floods in Greenland. In Greenland ice-dam failure causes frequent flooding compared to the volcanically-triggered floods in Iceland and this combined with the proximity of the Greenland glacier lakes to the coast means that most proglacial channels in Greenland are flood-hardened and most landscape impact is likely to be offshore in estuaries and fjords. Future floods with megaflood-type attributes will occur in Iceland induced by volcanic activity. In Greenland they will be induced by extreme weather and rapid ice melt. Any potential landscape impact of these future floods remains open to question. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier glacier Greenland Ice cap Iceland White Rose Research Online (Universities of Leeds, Sheffield & York) Greenland Camp Lake ENVELOPE(78.083,78.083,-68.543,-68.543) Isvand ENVELOPE(-49.667,-49.667,64.217,64.217) Amitsulooq ENVELOPE(-50.600,-50.600,66.167,66.167) Midternæs ENVELOPE(-20.967,-20.967,77.117,77.117) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
White Rose Research Online (Universities of Leeds, Sheffield & York) |
op_collection_id |
ftleedsuniv |
language |
English |
description |
The very largest glacier outburst floods have been termed ‘megafloods’ given their volume and peak discharge. That definition might be revised because those floods have become understood due to their distinctive and pervasive landscape impacts. At least three floods in Iceland can be categorized as megafloods since they produced impressive bedrock canyons and giant fluvially-transported boulders. Glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in Greenland might also have megaflood-type attributes given the enormous lake volumes drained. We therefore here present the first review of glacier outburst floods in Greenland: sites Isvand, Russell Glacier, Kuannersuit Glacier, Lake Tininnilik, two unnamed lakes near Amitsulooq Ice Cap, and Iluliallup Tasersua, Base Camp Lake, Lake Hullett, Qorlortorssup Tasia, Imaersartoq, Tordensø, North Midternæs and an outlet glacier of the A. P. Olsen Ice Cap. Overall, megaflood-type landscape impacts in Iceland tend to be best-preserved and most easily identified inland although there has also been extensive offshore sedimentation. There are very few reported impacts of glacier outburst floods in Greenland. In Greenland ice-dam failure causes frequent flooding compared to the volcanically-triggered floods in Iceland and this combined with the proximity of the Greenland glacier lakes to the coast means that most proglacial channels in Greenland are flood-hardened and most landscape impact is likely to be offshore in estuaries and fjords. Future floods with megaflood-type attributes will occur in Iceland induced by volcanic activity. In Greenland they will be induced by extreme weather and rapid ice melt. Any potential landscape impact of these future floods remains open to question. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Carrivick, JL Tweed, FS |
spellingShingle |
Carrivick, JL Tweed, FS A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective |
author_facet |
Carrivick, JL Tweed, FS |
author_sort |
Carrivick, JL |
title |
A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective |
title_short |
A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective |
title_full |
A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective |
title_fullStr |
A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective |
title_sort |
review of glacier outburst floods in iceland and greenland with a megafloods perspective |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147924/ https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147924/1/Iceland%20and%20Greenland_ESR%20submitted.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(78.083,78.083,-68.543,-68.543) ENVELOPE(-49.667,-49.667,64.217,64.217) ENVELOPE(-50.600,-50.600,66.167,66.167) ENVELOPE(-20.967,-20.967,77.117,77.117) |
geographic |
Greenland Camp Lake Isvand Amitsulooq Midternæs |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Camp Lake Isvand Amitsulooq Midternæs |
genre |
glacier glacier Greenland Ice cap Iceland |
genre_facet |
glacier glacier Greenland Ice cap Iceland |
op_relation |
https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/147924/1/Iceland%20and%20Greenland_ESR%20submitted.pdf Carrivick, JL orcid.org/0000-0002-9286-5348 and Tweed, FS (2019) A review of glacier outburst floods in Iceland and Greenland with a megafloods perspective. Earth-Science Reviews, 196. 102876. ISSN 0012-8252 |
op_rights |
cc_by_nc_nd_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
_version_ |
1766008823124852736 |